Business communications are getting a do-over. Moving to the cloud is not a new concept anymore. However, there’s plenty to consider. Especially when you move business communications to the cloud.

Business communications are, by all means, the living breath of any organization. They can make or break a business. Especially today. The amount of information sharing is, by all means, unprecedented. And getting ahead is, in fact, staying relevant.

And the cloud is already happening. Actually, we’re at the verge of cloud computing becoming “old news”. In case you’re wondering whether you should move to the cloud, look no further. Here are 7 reasons why the cloud is where your business communications need be.

1. Keep your business communications ahead of the curve

The cloud enhances and enriches business communications. But there’s more to the matter. Sure, cloud computing is a major breakthrough. Especially considering how widespread it is today. After all, it developed as a scientific tool. From grid-shared computing power in the early 90’s.

Moving business communications to the cloud is the true innovation. Indeed, they become near-hyperlink in stature and impact. Hyperlinks (or links, for the profane), made quite a splash back in the day. Some might argue that the backbone of the web is TCP/IP, HTML and HTTP. To many, however, hyperlinks are what ties it all together.

It was quite the revelation, to be able to tie in another page. One click, to go from where you are now to something else. To most of us, links are a given. Well, they were quite a thing when the inventor of the world wide web thought them up. And so will a future with business communications on the cloud.

The point here is that moving business communications on the cloud is the right move. Most of all, because it’s the future. Think about it this way. When hyperlinks came about, things changed irreversibly. By all means, it took a while. But it did happen. Being able to have business communication in the cloud is a similar step. And a much further reaching one.

2. Grow your business communications with features that matter

Unifying communications means that you converge features. Think voice, video, instant messaging (IM), conferencing and plenty other features, all in one place. Where? Everywhere, in the cloud. Besides, there are plenty of features you can have.

Call encryption, for example, can be particularly useful. While corporate espionage sounds a lot like a James Bond movie, it’s better safe than sorry.

Features such as call forwarding, call waiting, call transfer or call parking. Either can easily come in handy. Add to this anonymous calling, voicemail, video, facing, fax2email and interactive voice response. Especially the interactive voice response. It’s the modern-day equivalent of triage. Only that with communications.

3. Experience truly mobile business communications

Mobile business communications mean that your team can readily get on-task. From anywhere, anytime.

And that’s what business communications in the cloud offers. Remote agents, that can access your business communications from anywhere, anytime.

They need to authenticate and that’s that. And this extends to teams. Your teams can attend smart meetings from wherever they are. It’s perfect.

Worried about missing an opportunity to connect? Don’t. You can do so many things, from recording a call to leaving various types of messages.

Besides, this also works in reverse. Use the same physical access point for several different people. Spend less on physical resources.

Mobility becomes flexibility. Flexibility becomes adaptability. And that makes the difference in the long run.

4. Communications grow with your business

Your business can grow in size, or it can grow old. Or both. Doesn’t matter, the cloud covers both.

Scalability is a major issue with most traditional approaches to business communications. With the rise of new tech and BYOD, however, going to the cloud makes everything easy. It’s so very easy to scale on the cloud.

And growing old doesn’t mean being more dated. As time goes by, new technologies emerge. Traditionally, you’d have to implement such technologies as needed. In the cloud, however, the upgrades are fully automatic. Hence, there is nothing to worry. Put your energies in what sets your business apart, the cloud will keep it together.

5. Improve business communications with quality control

One great thing the cloud has to offer is accountability. You can easily access descriptive statistics reports. Check out all your communications and optimize.

Everything valuable today is data-driven. Hence, you should make sure your business communications are data-driven. This way, you can keep an eye on previously unknown KPIs.

Think about it this way. What’s your average customer call in January? How long does it take your team to make team decisions over a remote meeting? These things matter. And you can use them to further make a difference.

You can use such features to analyze your flow and reflect on lessons learned. Besides, recording certain calls can improve the quality of your business communications. And perhaps even protect your business.

Being able to access communications from anywhere is great. Knowing what sort of picture your business communications paint is marvelous.

6. Cloud business communications boost productivity

Productivity is all about doing more while doing better. Moving your business communications to the cloud is a paradigm shift. Most of all, it influences how well staff works.

After all, work, especially teamwork, is very much perfectible. There are many issues at work that affect productivity. Teamwork, happiness at work, team collaboration, team communications, to list a few. To each, its own set of problems. Not to mention boring meetings or work pressure.

One key issue with current business communication solutions is lack of unification. There is a lot of time waste while switching between tools. Adjusting focus in-between apps takes away a lot of resources. Moving everything to the cloud solves to problem. Moreover, it makes it easier and faster to process customer requests. Customers are easier to identify, sort and satisfy.

7. Business communications in the cloud are cost-effective

There are two key aspects with regards to cost. One is that costs go down. It’s cheaper to go to the cloud. Especially with intelligent call routing which minimizes costs.

The other is that costs stabilize. They become predictable, not just affordable. Enterprise-level, this goes into better planning and budgeting.

Costs with traditional channels for business communications may vary. The typical scenario is the unexpected phone bill. One other cost is time, and it takes less time to use unified communications.

Most importantly, personal costs go down. Using a highly convenient tech means staff gets to focus on what truly matters. In a sense, you avoid the cost of frustration and stress. This can have a positive effect on the balance between work and life.

By now, it should be fairly clear. You can move your business communications to the cloud. Or you stick to phone booths, typewriters and telegrams. It’s your call. Even more, it matters where you take it.